


Ellos dicen we're birds of uma pena

by toddykun



Series: Duckvember 2018 [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), Legend of the Three Caballeros (Cartoon), The Three Caballeros (1944)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Childhood, Fluff, Functional Dysfunctional Family, Gen, I mixed absolutely everything I know about these three to came out with this lmao, Life Lessons, Maybe OOC, Old Badass Woman, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some hcs throwed here, black magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 00:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16608080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toddykun/pseuds/toddykun
Summary: What one has, the other lacks. If only they could find each other even when they’re so far away from each other. Someday, probably.In which, José, Panchito, and Donald lack only two things in their childhoods: each other’s strengths and each other’s unconditional love.duckvember 2018:2. childhood duck(parrot & rooster)





	Ellos dicen we're birds of uma pena

**Author's Note:**

> [[First posted 11/5/2018 in Tumblr](http://toddy-does.tumblr.com/post/179849744363/toddy-kun-duckvember-2018-2-childhood-duck)]
> 
> The Three Caballeros' movie was my literal childhood and I swear to God I don't know how many times I have seen that movie lmao I loved all the comics, all the animated media, Legend of The Three Caballeros and Ducktales' canons about them and decided to play with them a little to come out with their childhoods for my particular mix of them all in one universe.
> 
> So yeah, i came out with the childhoods of my childhood heroes for the prompt lmao what about that? here's the first chapter with José's childhood and my take on it, oh, and my bunch of hcs for him too while we're at it lol

“José, are you selling the brigadeiros like I told you?”

José looked over his shoulder, his classmates were eating pretty happily the brigadeiros and branquinhos he sold them in exchange of him playing the guitar in the plaza, the tray he used to bring them to the plaza was completely empty like their pockets. He couldn’t be blamed, they wanted him free for them to use, and he wanted to be free from having to walk around for hours until he could sell all the sweets. It was a valid exchange, right? And they didn’t need to know he oversold them, anyways. It wasn’t his fault they accepted, they could have thought better.

He heard some girls laughing behind him, murmurs and aws, he held the old public phone harder to his ear. If his mom knew he was actually slaking off, instead of going home right after she was going to riot. “Just did, mãe. And the branquinhos too, before you ask.”

“Bem feito, meu pequeno papagaio! I knew you would do it! You didn´t oversell them, right? Nor did you make an unfair deal to sell them faster, right?” Guilt sipped into his gut, but José tried not to think too much about it. They needed the money anyway, and what his mom didn’t know it wasn’t going to hurt her. It wasn’t exactly an unfair deal either but his mom was a fair parrot, she just wouldn’t like that, so he just replied with a no. “Good, would you go to your grandma’s house to get more ingredients for the olho-de-sogras then?”

José sighed, too much for slacking off. “Wait, like right now? Can I do it later?”

“Yes, kid, right now. I don’t want complaints, you can rest later.”

Jose groaned but relented. “Sim, mãe. Also, you should stop asking vovó for ingredients for those sweets, one day she will get the weird joke you think it’s so funny.”

His mom just laughed hard. “Huh, don’t tell me what to do, ‘zé. That witch of a woman kind of deserves it, with her black magic and weird objects. Just go, baby.”

“Sim, mãe. See you later.” His mom said her byes and hanged up. José hanged the public phone and turned around to walk to the group to get his tray back and get going to his granny’s house. When he took his tray instead of the borrowed guitar, one of his classmates took gently his arm. He looked surprised at José.

“Hey, Zé, you told us you would stay if we bought your sweets, and now you’re leaving? Did your mom find you out?” He asked. Zé blushed immediately, shyness eating his tongue.

He was a pretty little blue macaw that was one of the few persons that talked to José because he wanted and not just because he wanted him to entertain him. He made those eyes that José knew it meant something he wasn’t prepared to face. He liked his eyes, what he didn’t like was what it could mean. José took the tray and used it as a shield and he put a foot of distance between them, shyness making his cheeks even hotter under the sun of Rio de Janeiro.

His classmates just took a bite out of the brigadeiro he had left, looking amused and flirty.

José gulped. “No, but I need to go to my vovó’s house now so…”

“Oh,” one girl replied, interrupting him, she did seem truly boomed by the fact, “what a pity.”

“Yeah,” another classmate said nonchalantly, he definitely didn’t look that boomed, “but well, if you don’t want to stay, more ladies for me.” José sighed at his classmate’s antics and so did other of his classmates. Others laughed, especially some girls in the group. José never liked to reply to him, he was exasperated and an egomaniac, the rich, cute and official class clown of his class. And a definitive bully. But he felt his tongue funny, a weird feeling growing at his stomach.

The comment left his beak before he could stop himself, his shyness flying out of the window for a moment, that hidden attitude that he inherited from his vovó shining out of nowhere. “Yeah, I do envy you.” He said, rolling his eyes but with a suave smile and an almost hidden sarcastic tone, his classmates turned around surprised to see him. For the first time, he paid it no mind. “I would love to stay with the ladies and some gentlemen too, of course, to bask in their beautiful presence that they deserve to choose with whom they want to share it, but I guess duty calls. Tchau guys! See you later!” And before he could regret it, before he thought too much about what he just said, he turned around, feeling his face growing redder, and made his way to his granny´s house at a fast walking.

There was a moment of silence. Until a group of footsteps followed him immediately. He also heard an annoyed  _‘hey! What are you doing?’_  behind him but he ignored it in the favor of soft blue feathers touching his arm and a pretty face.

“Hey,” he said, a charming smile on, “we could go with you, right? So, you can, umm, what you said back there. With the choice and all.” He actually looked nervous. Their other classmates agree, all of them particularly eager to be with him apparently, some of them smiled, some others were blushing. José didn’t found it in him to reject them, and with his face red and his palms sweating on the tray, he nodded.

The group made a pleased noise and pretty boy smiled and held onto his arm. They all started walking with him, chatting and laughing, José kept his mouth shut but he liked this.

It was weird, he thought, but not bad.

They eventually got to her granny’s house. And that’s when he knew this group needed to end, he didn’t have to courage to show them her granny’s antics and her ominous house.

“Thanks for accompanying me, guys. See you later, okay?”

Some of them seemed disappointed. None of them left until one of them made the question every one of them had in his head. “Hey, is your granny really a witch?” The others agreed and repeated the question. José fell like falling apart, he really didn’t want to answers that. One of his classmates seemed to pick up on that and took fast action.

Nestor spoke up, annoyed. “Hey, that’s not our problem! Let’s just go, bunch of nosy people.” Some of them replied to him laughing, some others were just annoyed, they did want to now but all together they did hear him. Nestor was a urubu, pretty laid back, so easy to talk to that he was actually everyone’s friends and people liked to do as he said. He was one of the few people that talked with him just because he wanted to. He didn’t know him that well but he wanted to now.

“Tchau, dude. See you at school!” Nestor gave him a thumbs up while winking at him, then fingers guns and then he left with the others that gave him their goodbyes too. José smiled happily. He definitely wanted to know him. One of his classmates stayed. The little blue macaw.

“Tchau, Zé. See you at school.” He said, touching José’s hand softly.

José blushed, hard. His heart almost getting out of his ribcage. “S-sim, sim.”

He left with a smile and José’s mind was left ringing, he really didn’t want to acknowledge all of that.

José walked to the house, avoiding stepping on the weird things his granny left around in her garden as ‘spirit offerings’, and opened the door. He entered the house and closed the door with a relieved sigh, glad to be out of the eye of his classmates. He turned around and supported himself on the door with a sigh. Unsurprisingly, the house was as somber and illuminated by candles as always. With all the black magic’s objects and books, his granny had around. Some of them were from Brazilian’s black magic, others from the United States or England, even Italy and Cuba. His granny just liked black magic, a lot. He could hear too, the distinct sound of samba coming from the radio,  _‘Copacabana’_  had always been a beautiful song, he thought.

“Ajá, José! Blushing for a boy! What would your mother think?”

José jumped into the air, shouting like a ghost had appeared in front of him, almost dropping the tray. His granny just laughed at him and he looked definitely scared. “Vovó! I was just…” He didn´t know how to explain himself.

She laughed more and waved a hand dismissively. “Save it, José. I couldn’t care less. Whatever makes your mother mad pleases me. So, well done in liking boys actually.”

“I don’t only like boys!” Oh, now he had to go and acknowledge it. Oh boy. José was mortified.

“Well, I never said you only liked boys, did I?” She said sassily, and when José went to argue he found he couldn’t, he shut his beak and looked at her with a worried expression. She just shrugged and smiled at him, turning around and walking to the kitchen, the little black umbrella she was always carrying around serving the purpose of a cane. “Did you come for your mom or just to visit me?” Before he could answer, she turned around out of nowhere, startling him, signaling him with her umbrella with a weird smile on her face.

“What about I teach you a little black magic, huh? Want to learn about macumba, eh? About Umbanda and Quimbanda, huh? Maybe some tarot reading or a simple spell to make yourself little or big?” She said, hitting her umbrella into his chest. She always asked the same thing when he went to her house. He rolled his eyes.

“No, thank you, vovó,” José said, looking at the ominous umbrella she was pointing at him. He didn’t know how his granny got a simple black umbrella to look so dangerous, especially if she looked like a normal granny with her long dress, her white crocheted shawl over her shoulders and her grayish long feathers in the top of her head tied in a bun.  _But that was vovó Carioca for you_ , he thought. “Just came for my mãe, for the ingredients and all that.”

“Huh, what a pity then. Were you selling her sweets? Did you oversell them, little conman?”

“I’m not a conman!” but he didn’t deny the question, his granny, obviously, picked up on that.

“Well, you could be a good conman! And since your mom is stupid and undersells them, you overselling them is actually a good deed at this point. I swear that woman doesn’t know shit about caring for her family.”

José reacted like any boy would when he heard someone insulting his mom. Enraged and mad. “Vovó, don´t say that! Just stop, please. Just give me what my mãe asked you for.”

“Hmph, like she doesn’t talk worst things about me.” That was true but she didn’t need someone to confirm it, so José didn’t respond to that. “But fine, fine. Let’s get those ingredients.”

José sighed relieved and they continued their way to the kitchen. She started to look for the ingredients around the kitchen at snail pace, José just sat on the counter looking at his granny’s calm form roaming around her little kitchen.

“So, about you overselling those sweets.” She started, looking for the ingredients in the freezer. José groaned, not prepared for a guilt trip.

“Vovó, not now.”

“I just wanted to tell you that doing things out of necessity is not bad  _per se_ ,” she continued, and José actually picked up on that, she actually wasn’t scolding him. “Buuuuut, don’t let that define you, okay, bebê? It’s okay for a while but don’t let that be who you are. You don’t need to overcompensate for your mom’s stupidness, okay? She should sell those sweets at a normal price, I don’t know why she does what she does. One day, she’s going to kill you and your little sister, I swear.”

José blinked. “Are you telling to me to keep overselling the sweets?”

“And to do more if that it is what you need to do to get the right amount of money and keep living. The right amount! But only-” She emphasized it by turning around and signaling him with her black umbrella- “Only if you need it. And don’t abuse your talents. Also, work hard.”

José groaned at the last part.  _Work, ew_. But he accepted anyways. “Sim, vovó.” She smiled and continued looking for the ingredients.

It was incredible how free her granny actually was, how happy with her life she was. She did things not caring about what other people thought of her. Her morals were all over the place too, telling him to be a conman?  _But only out of necessity_ , he reminded himself.

Maybe, that’s what he needed: freedom, he thought, giving a glance to all the weird decorations in his granny’s house.

No, freedom wasn’t really what he was looking for, he did have that, he remembered thinking about that little blue macaw being flirty without repercussions, about Nestor easy-going personality, about him in the plaza, being able to play the guitar was a pretty freeing thing too. He did have freedom, maybe what he needed was to get rid of that what held him back from using it completely.

He wanted his shyness out of his life. Or something to get rid of it. He wanted…

He actually wanted courage. Courage to do what he wanted more and courage to speak his mind more often. Courage to flirt, to speak to his mother of her odd ways of selling, to accept her granny offers of teaching him black magic, to talk with Nestor and his group.

He kind of wanted to be like his vovó, if he was being honest. In the end, she was brave, she had freedom and she wasn’t scared of using it. So, what if she was a witch? She wasn’t bad! Her morals were gray and she was kind of weird but she had never hurt anyone out of malice, right? She said to use what you have, especially if you're in need. And she used her magic to live by herself well and happy. Well, she also had a job (ew) and she didn’t abuse her powers to get whatever she wanted. Well, maybe sometimes. He didn’t know at this point.

But what had he done exactly with  _his_  talents? It wasn’t like it was the first time he had done a kind of weird deal to get out of the job, they weren’t bad deals exactly, but they weren’t good either. He had done these things with other people in the plaza too, to people that cared about him.

José groaned at himself.

He was lazy but needed  _–wanted–_ money, shy but liked people, conniving but liked honesty. That was bad, right? He didn’t really have something special going on with him. Something he could turn out into a good thing. Well, maybe his musical talents but how good could he be to get a job with it? It was hard to work your way into that. He didn’t like to work anyway, conning was easier. His mom wouldn’t like it. She would never approve of anything his granny said, not even if it was out necessity. But his granny and mom did agree on some things. Working hard was one of them.

He could play the guitar in the plaza and get some money, but he knew he wasn’t going to get much, he had seen other people doing it. Conning was more profitable.

But conning was bad and he only should do it if it was an emergency.

José sighed, his granny took about all the ingredients and put them in a bag for him and when she was about to speak to him, she noted his lost expression.

“Something wrong, meu pequeno?”

“Vovó, what I’m gonna do if I can’t find something else to do except conning?”

His granny looked at him, this amused expression on her face. “José, you will find something. You like dancing and playing instruments, you have a beautiful voice too, right?”

“Yeah, but being into music is kind of hard, right? That’s what happened to pai, he thought he could do something like that and then he ended like a jobless idiot who ended in jail for robbing someone and then died there.”

His granny sighed, sadly. José felt kind of guilty for bringing the issue up but he wanted to know. “My son was an idiot and him falling into that was…kind of my fault. But the music thing was just him giving up even before trying to do something else when he failed that one time-"

“The thing with life is that you can’t try only once, José, you will need several attempts to get something right. Your mother didn’t turn out a professional baker one morning, and I wasn’t an expert on black magic since I was a child. Life is so much more than that, your father didn’t get it. But one day, you will.” And she helped him get off of the counter. José heard her attentively.

“Life is full of learning, from yourself and from other people. You’ll find people that will push forward, that will change you and that will love you for even your little quirks and you will love them for theirs. For example, do you love me, José?”

The question took José by surprise but he answered immediately. “Of course, vovó. I do.”

She smiled softly, she leaned in her umbrella and giggled a little. “But I’m sarcastic, overbearing, your own mãe doesn’t like me very much and I’m the crazy witch woman of the town. Do you still love me?”

José didn’t even wait a bit. “Vovó, I do. What even is that question?”

She laughed, pleased. “Do you think I changed you?”

José blinked, looking at the floor for a moment, thinking about all the ways his granny had made him wonder that day. “Oh, yes. You sure did. And-  _Oh, now I got it._  But vovó, you’re family. Isn’t that normal?”

“Bah, you could have chosen to not like me at all, your dad is family too, do you like him?”

José snorted. “I didn’t even know him.”

“Exactly!” And José understood without her having to explain. “That is going to happen a lot in your life. Or maybe not, maybe you won’t meet anyone worth of change but that doesn’t mean that you can’t take the wheel and change for yourself. And what if you are still kinda conniving? That just means you only have room to grow, José! I know you’ll grow to use it in a better way, or at least try. Have some confidence, the world is full of surprises and so are you.”

“Well, that does sound good.” He said hesitantly. “But at the pace I go, I don’t think I’m going to talk to anyone until next century.”

“Why not? You got the best golden tongue I had seen in a while. It’s ridiculous how you get out of trouble in the end. And the way other people hear you, sometimes I feel like they want to kiss you just because you said a word. ”

“Isn’t that part of being conniving? And sometimes, people want to kill more than follow me...” He asked, whispering the last part so only he could hear him. He didn’t really know what to make out of it.

“Not really, you’re probably more of a leader and more charming than you think of. All those kids seemed pretty invested in following you, didn’t they? This is weird, but that was something your dad did. But maybe it means something else…”

For a moment, she seemed deep into thought and José didn't know what to do about that. She hummed, considering something, looked at her umbrella, then at him, then at the umbrella again.

“You know what? I think I know what it is. Take this.”

His vovó took the umbrella and gave it to him. José looked at it, surprised. “But vovó! Don´t you need it? You’re always saying you need it for your magic.”

“Nah, I can do magic without it and you need it more. If I’m correct  _ _–_ and I always am _–__ , you have more magic that you let one, don’t you think is kind of weird that golden tongue of yours? How can people just agreed with you and follow you?”

“I mean, sometimes? But it’s rare when people actually follow me, too. I usually have to talk a lot for people to actually follow me”  _Or lie, or trick them_ , he didn’t say. “I don’t think I have a golden tongue.”

“Yeah, but people following you immediately after you said something it’s probably as weird as you deciding to speak out your mind without fear, am I right?”

José blinked, realization dawning at him. “I guess…”

“That’s splendid! A golden tongue is actually a type of more subtle black magic, you need to learn something in order to really handle the ability, and few people have it. And if you can use it, it means that you had a figurative golden tongue to begin with, regardless of magic. José, you have the aptitude to use black magic!”

“Wait, what?” He? With magic? Was that really possible? He had never seen his vovó doing magic if he was being honest but there were times when she seemed less weird and the things she said that would happen, happened in less than a second. Things that looked completely impossible to happen. It happened with his dad’s future, it happened with mãe and the delivery of his little sister. She was usually able to manipulate people with just a little of charming words, he had seen it. He had to replicate it too, but there were when his vovó would say one of two words, that sounded particularly smug and the other person seemed charmed out of nowhere, even if they had been previously ignoring her. Did he have that too? Could he do that? Charm people with his own words and with magic too? Maybe his vovó wasn’t as weird as he thought and she actually knew what she was talking about.

She seemed to consider something and when she looked like she found it, she said: “Maybe you should try playing the umbrella.”

Forget what he said about her not being as weird as he actually thought, vovó was nuts. “Playing the umbrella?”

“Yeah, only someone with my special magic in their veins can play the umbrella, my son couldn’t by the way. Of course, you should also have some talent with instruments but that’s not something magic can give you, but I know that wouldn’t be a problem for you. You being able to play it would confirm if you have it. Oh, and the book! Have the book! Where the hell is that damned book?”

He looked at his granny now running frantically around the house. José just blinked and sighed, tiredly.  _When was he going to get out of there?,_  he thought, taking the bag with the ingredients in one arm and the tray and the umbrella with the other.

_**.** _

“Do you really think it is going to work? The magic, I mean. I don’t think mãe will like it.”

“Well, if it works and you think you can handle magic, know that I’m here for you. And what does your mãe really like anyway, huh? She never likes anything! Oh, and tell her to stop asking me for the olho-de-sogras’ ingredients. It’s not a funny joke.”

“I told her already, vovó. Didn’t listen.” José giggled. “Maybe I could go to Bahia, where you learned about black magic.” He suggested, putting the bag down in the entrance of her granny door. He said it more to please her than because he believed.

He wanted to believe, yeah, but he didn’t want to be the witch boy of the town either. It was already bad being the grandson of the witch of the town, he didn’t need to upgrade that, thanks. Even if he was actually interested.

“Ah, Bahia!” She sounded enamored all of a sudden, taking a cigar out of her pocket and lighten it up. “If you ever go to Bahia, Zé, you will never return. That place is too beautiful sometimes to be real.” She sounded like she was so far away. José didn't understand.

“How so? But you returned, vovó”

“It's not really a psychical thing.” She explained, but José looked at her even more confused. His granny waved her cigar dismissively. “I will tell you someday, now it’s time for you to go. Your mãe is probably freaking out about you. But I promise you that I will show Bahia one day. Maybe it will come handy later.” She put the cigar to her mouth and took a swift.

“Who do you think I’m going to find out there?” His granny seemed thoughtful with that, looking at the orange sky. She took the cigar out of her mouth to let off a new cloud of smoke out of her mouth and looked at it smiling.

He followed suit and looked at the smoke moving into the air and, if he moved his face just right, he swore he could see the form of a rooster and a duck in it. But before he could really confirm it, a wisp of wind went and made the smoke disappear. He looked at her again, in wonder. A suspicious and knowing smile on her face.

“Well, who knows?” She finally said, while hitting the cigar a little to get off of some waste, she sounded like she actually did know but José wasn’t about to contradict her. “Maybe your destiny awaits you far away from here. I don’t really know. Life is a free thing, it can do whatever it wants, and we can too, with it.”

_**.** _

He had always loved the sunset he must admit. It was such a romantic thing. The colors, the calm of the nearest beach, the romantic night about to come.

José stopped in part of his way home and looked at the sunset and wondered, what could he do?

He wished for courage to choose what he really wanted, not to be an outcast for what he believed what’s right or to not care about that, he thought, tightening his grip on the book and the black umbrella, his wishes for instruments he had always wanted to buy came too and the love for people had never really left his mind.

What harm could do choosing another path than the one normally proposed? Who was he to not change that? Vovó had done that, and she was a good woman.

José kept walking, humming an old song that his vovó liked, and ignoring the warm coming from the umbrella.

One day, maybe.

One day.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you know how much I love José's umbrella? I love it, and i always wondered where the hell he got that???? then i started to research about black magic in brazil and bahia!!! and then i remembered that vovó carioca existed and then i thought who could have been a major influence into josé's behavior and views? so that's answer why vovó carioca is like this here lmao josé deals with his not-so-charming features from the comics here in a way that leaves him guilty, i have like a looooot of other hcs for him about that lmao but i guess i will just deal with them in another series since they play much later in his life (teenager and adulthood) lmao 
> 
> Next Chapter is for Panchito!
> 
> hope u enjoyed it!!!!
> 
> come bother me if u want to:  
> [my writing and art tumblr](http://toddy-does.tumblr.com/)  
> [my personal tumblr](http://toddy-kun.tumblr.com/)  
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/toddywithcereal)


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